Characterization of GaN HEMT under short-circuit events

In this paper, an analysis of the failure mecha-nisms and degradation indicators of GaN HEMTs is presented. Understanding how this technology fails is critical, especially for space applications. Due to radiation, a common failure mechanism in space applications for GaN devices is the short-circuit event. A systematic method is proposed to perform “on-board” measurement of the critical electrical parameters and analyze the behavior of DUTs under short-circuit failures to build a reliability model. A setup to characterize GaN HEMTs devices is developed, and multiple tests at different conditions have been performed. The reliability challenge of GaN devices could be addressed by having on-board, in-system prognostics and device health monitoring techniques to predict device failures well ahead of time.